I Know Why The Trees Speak
by JacobLuver226
Summary: Shannon Donnally has had a hard life. Hard because of her parents constant fighting but also alone. With only an eccentric grandma and her best friend Jessie to support her, she learns of the finer things in life and of building herself up.
1. Prologue

AN: This is an idea that has been in my head for awhile…I actually started writing it for NaNoWriMo but got really busy and never finished it. It's really hard for me to write ideas that are in my head and actually be happy with the writing that comes with it. To me this story isn't as grown up as I wished to make it. I tried to do a serious tone but it just didn't come out like I want it to and I hope to nurture and help this story grow. This is actually my first story that has chapters so if anyone actually reads it then I hope you enjoy.

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**Prologue**

I'm scared,

Today my parents fought

Like every day before

I hid under the maple tree just outside the yard

I didn't want to hear the screams

And the yelling too

Or my mommy saying, "Please don't hit me anymore!"

It usually never gets this bad

I don't want to hear her cries

She told me not to say anything or else I'd be in trouble

So I'll just wait it out until I can go back inside.

-Shannon Donnally

My name is Shannon Donnally I'm finally 12 years old. My favorite thing is writing poetry in my backyard. People always look at me with pity in their eyes. They look at me and we both know what goes on in my house. My parents always fight but no one ever says anything, they just look at me with copious thought in their heads. My mom never talks anymore; in fact all she does is cry. She tries to cover up the bruises so no one say's anything. My dad is hardly ever home and when I ask where he goes he always just replies "Well money doesn't just grow on trees and I've gotta buy grocery's somehow". Everyone just calls him a drunk. He never used to be violent with my mom. We used to be pretty happy until my dad got unemployed from his job from causing a fight with his coworker. His did a seemingly good job at breaking the other guys nose. So with the lawsuit that followed we were pretty hard for cash. My dad eventually was able to get a job at the 'garbage dump'. He doesn't like it when I call it that. He prefers a more fancy term like recycling plant he says it makes him seem more respectable. That was when he became angry and the violence started.

My grandma is my best friend. She's the only one I feel comfortable talking to about private matters. She constantly tells my mom, "Teresa no one but yourself can change your situation, you just need to stand up and leave and get your life in order." Mom never leaves though; I think it's because she feels that she would be considered a failure if she couldn't fix her marriage. I would never judge her, I understand, I see what she goes through. If I am ever allowed to leave I head to my grandmother's.

My grandma (she always tells me to call her Sherry because she feels that Grandma seems too old) is turning 70 this year, but she seems so much younger and everyone tells me so. She doesn't like when I tell anyone her age (but of course you won't tell on me since your just a journal) and it always makes me smile. I love when she bakes me cookies in the afternoon when I get home from school. Chocolate chip, they are always chocolate chip since that's the only homemade cookies she has a recipe for. She always smirks and replies, "A cookie's not a cookie unless it's homemade." Personally I just think she takes the whole grandma thing a little too far. You see I'm her only grandchild and my mom was the only child she ever had. She says she's glad she only had one because she had had all the snotty tissues she could take. I always laugh when she tells me this; it always makes me feel like one-of-a-kind. Always a constant topic at Grandma's house is Grandpa. My Grandpa died when I was about four, but from all the romantic stories that I hear from 'Sherry' I feel as if I have always known him personally.

Now Journal that you're all caught up this is where my real story begins.


	2. Horses and Playmates

**Chapter 1: Horses and Playmates**

Jessie was most likely the most insane person I had ever met. We've been friends since the third grade when I swapped my tuna sandwich for her peanut butter and jelly one and the rest was history. But today was the day when I was quite sure my friend's crazy antics would lead to her death, when she decided to sign up for a horse camp.

I've been scared of horses ever since I fell off a pony at a fair and sprained my ankle. I have never attempted to ride one ever again. I won't even try to pet one.

"Are you utterly cracked? You could fall off or even worse have your spleen broken!" I cried out in frustration.

"You seriously need to get over your fear of horses; I mean how many years ago did this happen? And I grew up around a farm at my grandparents house remember?"

"Whatever!" Obviously my friend would not listen to reasonable thinking so if she wanted to die then she could lead herself to her own death! I just won't allow her to come complaining to me is she somehow gets even more brain damage then what she has now.

Jessie rolled her eyes. If anyone could be a pro at rolling their eyes it was Jessie. I swear that girl could roll her eyes about a million times a day, one roll blending in with another. She was also the queen at making funny faces whereas I could make only three; my pissed off face, my normal face and my happy face which strangely still looked like my normal one.

"So are you still planning on coming over to my house to play some World of Warcraft? My new defense belt is pretty awesome! I swear it took forever to save up my coins." Jessie smiled a genuine smile indicting our jesting was over.

"Uhm…I'm not really sure I think I'm supposed to help my grandma out today. You know how the first Friday of every month she likes to go shopping for new stuff to decorate her already cluttered house." I laughed. Sometimes my grandma was just too eccentric for her own good.

"You mean Sherry? I'm sure she wouldn't like it if she knew you called her "grandma" behind her back." Jessie started giggling uncontrollably. Of course I was instantly reminded of when Jessie first met 'Sherry'. I had brought Jessie over to my grandma's house to work on an English project that was going to be due soon. So when my grandma saw Jessie she immediately started embarrassing me.

"Well hello! It is so great to be able to meet one of Shannon's playmates!" Of course my grandma didn't understand that the word playmate is out of date it certainly didn't help the fact that Jessie's face looked like it was about to explode in laughter. To make it any worse when I mentioned to Jessie that this was my grandma, 'Sherry' starting pinching my cheeks and then looked straight at Jessie and said, "My whatever is this child talking about! Please call me Sherry, it makes me feel younger just like in my flapper days." Suddenly Jessie couldn't contain it anymore and burst. Sherry then went on and on telling Jessie about how many guys were interested in her from being a flapper and yadda yadda.

So from this day forward Jessie tried to never miss opportunities to come to Sherry's and watch me squirm from embarrassment.

"Haha funny! But I'll see! I'll head over whenever my grandma is done with her shopping!" with a wave of my hand and our own secret smirks we departed.

Review about any ways that I can fix my story and make my writing better…I love anything that any of you have to say and if anyone is reading this then thank you for your time.


	3. Strong Bucks and Water Holes

**Chapter 2: Strong Bucks and Water Holes**

Seasons come and go

Such as the tree's sway in the wind and the elephants head to the water hole

As rain drops and forms a puddle, water makes its way down underground

But friendship is strong if it is pure

And purity means loyalty

Only pure friends can lead you down a path of happiness

-Shannon

"So Shannon what do you think of these shower hangings? Aren't they just adorable?" Sherry smiles at me uncertainly.

"Umm they are frog's grandma. For like three year olds." I use my smize to show I don't really mean any harm.

"Well I think they are cute!" Sherry humphs and we make our way down the isles of Bath and Body Works looking for some amazingly interesting object to catch my grandmothers eye so she can buy it.

Suddenly I stop and stare in my tracks. On a shelf in the bath section I see a really pretty leave shower curtain. I know what your thinking "this chick is psycho." But ever since I was young I've had an odd obsession with leaves. They just make me feel so calm and a part of a secret world which it seems that no one else is. My own personal world. Nature period inspires me the way trees are and how a spider weaves a web its fascinating. I turn to look at Sherry and realize shes gone. Crap! I'm probably going to get in trouble! I turn to go the other way and run into someone and start to stumble. "Oh sorry!" a masculine voice says and reaches out hands to keep me from falling. Looking up I see a pair of the friendliest blue eyes that I've seen and a wide smile. "I'm sooo sorry! I wasn't looking where I was going!" I cried out.

"It was nothing." he smiled and then turned on his way to go making his way toward the bedroom linens.

Turning to continue down the way I had came from Sherry popped out from nowhere. If I had known what the conversation was going to turn to then I would have ran in the opposite direction!

"So who was that strong buck? Nice catch Shannon!" Sherry winked at me, having no idea what she was referring too I plunged into the conversation.

"Sherry you know drugs are bad for you! Maybe you should stop cuz they are making you crazy!" I laughed and she just winked and laughed at me.

"I saw that guy who you ran into. I know all the tricks in the rulebook to catch a guy! Trust me back in the day the girls and I were super popular because we knew how to play the game." She grinned wolfishly.

"Gross I don't need to know about your dating in the dinosaur ages! And are you kidding? That guy was like 40!" I blushed totally embarrassed by my grandma's antics.

"Well you know what they say 'Age is just a number.' So it doesn't really matter." She laughed jokingly.

"Wasn't grandpa a lot older then you when you guys started dating?" I asked questioningly remembering a time when she talked about when she and 'Paul' had first met.

"Yeah I was 24 and he was 32. My friends always laughed and talked about how I always had flings with old men." She smiled with fondly remembrance on her face looking serene and calm: younger like she did not have a care in the world.

"So what were your friends like?" I asked curiously as we started down the aisles with all the fancy blue china and ugly cups collection.

"Well there were mainly three that I hung out with Anna, Christine and Margaret. Margaret was constantly made fun of for her name which people came up with a whole bunch of unflattering nicknames. So she was pretty much the crazy one out for revenge."

"Sounds like my friend Brina, except she doesn't get made fun of she just likes causing drama." Brina was defiantly that person who you didn't want to get on their bad side. Sherry smiled politely and continued her story.

"Anna was the smart and studious one. I swear if it wasn't for her I would have failed science." The smile lines on her face got even bigger, "And I'm sure Christine was the only normal one out of all of us except she was always constantly out and about, you know what they say a social butterfly."

"So we always stayed after school chattering until out parents came and scolded us to go home and do our chores or help watch our siblings."

"We also always came up with weird code names for things. Like a secret language that no one knew but us. Like for example we called water fountains water holes and shoelaces worms and sometimes they would be so ridiculous that we would laugh for hours." I was glad that my grandma seemed to have so much fun when she was younger. Nowadays she seemed to always be by herself except when I was with her.

"Oh look at these curtains! Aren't they beautiful?" She exclaimed and for some reason had a knowing look in her eyes.

I couldn't see what she liked about the ugly curtains. They were a dreadful puke green and had an ugly swirl pattern in purple as the design. I of course being the great granddaughter that I am decided to be nice. I mean if that was her taste then why not? So I decided to lie.

"Yeah they are great! Are you going to buy them?" Seriously hoping that she wouldn't I crossed my fingers and prayed for a miracle that I wouldn't have to stay at these curtains every time I went to the bathroom.

"I can't believe that you actually think that I have such bad taste! And even worse is that you would have let me buy them!" She spoke accusingly. Ah that's what the knowing look was for. She was testing me. Well she always did have weird eccentric tastes so it didn't seem too farfetched that she would want to buy something like ugly curtains.

"Well Sherry I never know when it comes to your tastes." Looking at each other we smiled the smile of family of oneness. She finally decided to buy the leave shower curtain that I had found earlier and we left. As much as I didn't want to go home she had to bring me back. Because everyone knows that happiness can only last so long.


End file.
